


lover, come back to me

by stephsjblock



Category: 9 to 5 the Musical - Parton/Resnick
Genre: F/F, angsty for a lot of it, but it gets better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:14:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25762723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephsjblock/pseuds/stephsjblock
Summary: the separation and the reconciliation
Relationships: Judy Bernly/Violet Newstead
Kudos: 14





	lover, come back to me

**Author's Note:**

> hi hi hi! it's been so long i've been so busy it's not even funny. but classes ended today so i'm absolutely in writing mode >:) title is from a barbra song pls i have to listen to her when i write. she calms me. anyways i hope u enjoy! it's probably riddled with mistakes but i don't really care :) love always, mac xx

Judy opened her eyes and felt the cold sheets next to her. It was cloudy outside, rain just beyond the mountains. She could feel it in her bones. Her pale eyelids fluttered shut and she briefly wished she could just fall back asleep. She had no motivation to walk into work today. Nevertheless, that wasn’t her. She got up and began her morning routine.

She ran down to start the coffee maker. It was a new routine she had to start getting in the habit of after Violet left. She always got up earlier, so Judy would finish her makeup and come down to have coffee with her. She sighed. The thoughts seemed to plague her everywhere she went. After hearing the familiar whirring begin, she went upstairs to brush her teeth and apply her makeup. 

Standing at the bathroom counter, she was overwhelmed with memories of their skin-to-skin contact. Violet standing between her legs, hands running along her spine. Violet’s lips on her neck. Violet bending her over the counter and kissing her shoulder blades. Judy pressed her palms over her eyes, desperate to forget. But it was impossible. How could she forget how Violet held her? Or the way her eyes sparkled when she looked at Judy. The way she loved and cherished Judy.

Judy’s stomach filled with butterflies and they felt heavy as she remembered. They weren’t together anymore, but it was so hard to forget her. Her laugh, her gorgeous laugh filled Judy’s memory. The way she always teased Judy about her colorful clothing, which contrasted against Violet’s own monotonous wardrobe. She had become so used to Violet’s presence in her house that it seemed almost haunted now that Violet had left. The rooms seemed bigger and more empty. The couch lacked the red throw pillow that Violet always had to put behind her back. “A year of desk work is 3 years on the back.” She would always laugh. Her slippers by the backdoor were gone. 

They meant so little until they were gone. The simplest things. She hadn’t realized just how much of Violet’s life she had mixed with her own. Judy was suddenly overwhelmed with emotion as she was putting her mascara on, but willed herself strong.

“I will not cry.” Her lower lip trembled as she said it, but she held true to her statement. Not a tear fell down her cheek. As she calmed herself, she heard the coffee machine power off so she took a deep breath and walked downstairs for her morning coffee.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her hands were shaking.

She and Violet split up about 2 weeks prior, but she hadn’t had to actually face her. Mr. Hart sent her on a business trip to New Jersey, so she hadn’t stepped into this building since.

It’s fine. It’s completely fine. It’s the same old building that it was when she was first hired here. Sure, Violet worked here, but she had her own office. Judy didn’t have to see her if she didn’t want to. She leaned her forehead against the steering wheel and took a deep breath. It will be okay. It will all be okay.

It won’t be okay. 

Judy made it to the elevator, but now as it was slowly approaching floor eight, her heart was beating rapidly. She couldn’t feel her fingers or toes. No one in the elevator seemed to notice Judy’s mild panic. She was partially grateful, but a part of her wanted someone to take her to the hospital. Anything to get her out of this building. 

Ding.

“Eighth floor.” The cold voice of the elevator filled the air and Judy shivered. 

She held her head up high and began the seemingly long journey across the bullpen to her desk. Her knuckles were white around the strap of her purse. It took everything in her to function as if everything was normal. Her mind was going a million miles a minute and-

“Judy!”

Judy froze and turned around and was pleasantly surprised to see Doralee. She sighed a little sigh of relief and returned Doralee’s wide smile.

“Doralee! Oh, I’ve missed you!” Judy pulled her into a hug, Doralee’s big blonde hair pressing against her cheek.

“I’ve missed you too! Where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around the office in weeks.” Doralee rubbed her arm and looked concerned, yet kind.

Judy waved her off saying it was nothing and she was on a business trip from Hart. 

“Whew, well, I’m glad you are back. It wasn’t the same without you.” She winked at Judy and walked back to her desk, which was decorated just as one would expect for Doralee. A sweet picture of Doralee and Dwayne was next to the typewriter. Usually Judy would smile kindly at the thought, but her wounds were too fresh. It was a memory of what she could have had. 

With a quick readjustment of her purse under her arm, she walked to her desk, which was relatively plain except for some purple ceramic flowers that doubled as a holder for paper clips and other various small items. Roz had gotten onto her about them, but Violet stood up for her and claimed that they were necessary for office work. Roz quit hounding her about it and Violet winked. That fiery spirit.

Judy was quickly becoming overwhelmed again, so she decided to drain her thoughts with business. She began typing furiously, her brain focused on the report. The report. The report. The ceramic flowers. Her mind quickly found its way back to the purple ceramic flowers. The violet flowers.

Judy opened her top desk drawer and put the flowers in there. She couldn’t bear to look at them. It seemed as if everything around her was triggering memories of Violet. She shut the drawer and tried to refocus, but it was hard. Her hands seemed 10 times heavier than they were before. Maybe she wasn’t ready to come back to work.

Just as soon as she had started to finally focus on the report in front of her, she heard an office door open. Her silly human instinct forced her to look up and she was saddened when her heart leapt.

Violet emerged from the room. She looked good, but not great. Her clothes were neatly pressed and her hair fell perfectly right below her chin, but her eyes themselves told of a weight on her shoulders. Judy quickly retrained her eyes back to the document in front of her. She silently prayed to any higher being that Violet wouldn’t come speak to her. She just couldn’t handle it. Not here. Not in public. 

Violet moved swiftly through the maze of desks and it looked almost as if she was headed straight for Judy, but she passed her to hand a few files to Maxine.

“I need you to call these suppliers and renegotiate the things highlighted.”

Judy let out a shaky breath. Just hearing her voice again was overwhelming. The last memory of her voice was one she would rather forget. The pain in her voice.

When Violet walked back past Judy to head back to her office, her perfume filled Judy’s space. It was subtle, but enough to bring tears to Judy’s eyes. She just had to make it to lunch. She just had to make it to lunch.

She couldn’t make it to lunch.

Judy got up as surreptitiously as she could and headed to the bathrooms. Perhaps in hindsight it wasn’t the best place to go, but it was all she could think of before the tears fell. She pushed her way into the stall and locked it behind her before losing all of her composure. She cried as silently as possible into the sleeve of her jacket that she had forgotten to take off. 

It was too much. It was simply too much being in the same space as Violet Newstead. Being so close to her, but not being able to love her in the way she wanted. The way she knew she was capable of. It was tormenting. She just needed more time. Just a little more time and it would all-

The door swung open and Judy immediately froze and stopped breathing.

One pair of heels clicked in and walked a few steps before stopping.

“Judy?”

Judy’s heart sank to hear Violet’s voice echo throughout the bathroom. 

She composed her voice as much as she could before responding. The last thing she needed was her voice to break.

“Judy, are you okay?” The sincerity in her voice made Judy’s lip tremble more and tears fall faster. 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.” She almost made it, but her voice warbled on the last word. Damn it. She shook her head at herself. How silly.

Violet’s heels walked over to the front of the stall door Judy occupied.

“Judy, please come out here.”

Her quiet tone almost made it impossible for Judy to resist, but she just managed. Judy sniffled and grabbed toilet paper to wipe her tears.

“Judy, please.” Violet’s voice was nearly a whisper. That was the final notice Judy needed. 

Reluctantly she unlocked the door to find a teary Violet Newstead in front of her. The sight caused more tears to well up in her eyes and she almost, almost wrapped her arms around the taller woman. Violet backed up and allowed Judy to step out of the stall. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror and was greeted with a frightful sight. Her mascara had run and her eyes were puffy. She sighed and dabbed at it with the toilet paper still in her hand.

“Can I speak with you in my office in 5 minutes?” Violet’s voice was stronger than it had been before. A businesslike tone. Judy nodded without looking at her, eyes glued to Violet’s shoes, the ones that had once sat next to hers on the shoe rack in Judy’s entrance room. She took a deep breath as Violet turned on her heel and left the bathroom. She was breathless from the encounter. She placed both hands on the countertop in front of her, mascara covered toilet paper still balled in her hand. A few deep breaths and she finally felt the lump in her throat secede. Judy stood up straight and smoothed out her dress. She threw the toilet paper away and walked carefully to Violet’s office, trying to avoid the eyes on her.

Judy knocked lightly on the wooden door. When she heard a muffled ‘come in’ she opened the door just enough to fit through and closed it behind her. She stood stiffly, waiting for Violet to tell her what to do. It was as if she couldn’t function the same around the woman. Violet got up and sat on the couch that was opposite her desk and gestured for Judy to do the same. Judy drug her feet before coming to sit next to Violet. She noticed Violet had her back pillow behind her, and that stirred up emotions on it’s own.

“I think we need to talk.” Violet interrupted Judy’s spiraling thoughts. Perhaps she should just let Violet lead this conversation.

“I do as well.”

Violet took a deep breath and flattened her hands out on her lap, an anxious habit she had always had.

“We need to be able to work together in order to-”

“What was the reason?” Judy interrupted her. She let Violet lead the conversation for approximately 2 seconds, but her brain demanded to know.

“Pardon?”

“Why?” Judy miraculously kept her voice stable though the lump in her throat was becoming very apparent.

Violet sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She rubbed the bridge of her nose before continuing.

“You know exactly why. It’s the 80’s.”

“You say that like it means something. It doesn’t have to mean anything Violet.” Judy turned her body towards Violet and looked her in the eye.

“If we’re caught… I’m in a position of power here. I’ll lose my job. You’ll lose yours. It’s not something we can’t risk.” Violet’s eyes were filled with remorse and guilt and Judy knew it all too well. It was hard for them to be together. It wasn’t exactly taboo, but homosexual relationships were far from celebrated.

“Oh, but it is! Violet, I have never even felt a fraction of a love like yours before we met. You love strong, and you love fierce and that’s it. So what? We don’t have to announce it to the world. We can keep it between us. It can be our thing.” Judy’s voice began to waver. “It’s hard living without you, Violet. I feel so silly saying it, but it’s true. I cannot stand one more day in that house without hearing you stomping up the stairs or watching TV with you.”

Violet chuckled and reached out for Judy’s hand, grabbing it with both of her own. Judy placed her other hand on top of Violet’s. 

“I’m serious, Violet. I need you. I love you.” A tear fell from Judy’s cheek, but she ignored it, staring into Violet’s eyes. Violet froze for a moment, eyes watering. Then, she pulled Judy into a tight hug. Judy gladly wrapped her arms around Violet and sobbed into her shoulder. She felt Violet’s hot tears against her neck and she pulled away slightly, still close. Her hand came to Violet’s cheek, wiping away the tear tracks. Violet laughed sadly.

Judy took a deep breath. 

“So… what do you say?” Judy was suddenly aware of every single part of her body. She was floating yet sinking at the same time. Time seemed to slow as she awaited Violet’s answer. Judy hoped she would say it.

Instead, Violet pressed their lips together in a tender kiss before pulling away and nodding. Judy fell into Violet, her forehead falling against her shoulder. Violet took Judy’s hand and pressed kisses into it.

“Yes. Yes. I’m still scared, but,” Violet took a deep breath, “I need you in my life. I missed you too much while we were apart.”

Judy lifted her head and smiled, pressing their lips together once more before pulling Violet into a hug once more. 

It was a lot of emotions for one day. Judy experienced about 10 before leaving her house, but at the end of the day she was finally able to sleep peacefully because Violet was once more at her side.


End file.
